Star Wars: A chance for redemtion
by Tom Hilts
Summary: Anakin thinks all is over for him when an old friend appears


"Come to the Dark side Luke?" Darth Vader said as he searched the dark corridor for his son. "Come with me, together we can overthrow the emperor."  
"I will never join you." Luke answered placidly from his hiding place behind a pillar. He held his light-saber at the ready.  
"Your feelings betray you Luke," Vader tried to get his son to give away his position, "You fear for your friends, especially for..." Vader paused at the realization of Luke's thought. "Sister!" he finally said menacingly. "So? You have a twin sister? Obi-Wan was wise to hide her from me, now his failure is complete. If you will not join the Dark side perhaps she will."  
Luke was mentally pushed over the edge. "NEVER!" he shouted as he leapt from the safety of his pillar with his saber extended before him flashing toward Vader. Vader met this attack with his own saber.  
Anger seethed throughout Luke, it fed his fire of hate, and he felt power surging through him, willing him to fight! With a few more swift moves, Luke had severed one of Vader's robotic hands at the wrist, sending it and his light-saber down one of the Death-Stars ventilation shafts. Luke stood over his father's prostrate form, his own light-saber poised above his head, ready to give the final blow. But deep down he knew that he just couldn't do it! He could not be the death of his own father.  
There was a gravely chuckle from behind. Luke shot a quick glance across his shoulder to see who the benefactor of the chuckle was. Darth Sidious, with his sickly pale face covered by a large dark hood, slowly glided down the flight of steps.  
"Yes!" he breathed, "Finish him and take his place at my side. It is your destiny!"  
Luke froze and shakily looked from his artificial hand to his fathers. He slightly shook his head in disbelief.  
_"This can't be my destiny!"_ Luke thought, "_Or could it? No! He wishes to deceive me!" _ Standing to his full height, Luke shut off his light-saber and threw it away from him.  
"I am sorry your highness, but you have failed, I am a Jedi," Luke, his eyes moist, turned to Vader, "Like my father before me." The ghost of a smile played across his lips.  
The emperor stiffened and with an air of disappointment said, "Very well...Jedi, if you will not be turned..." he paused letting his wicked lips curl into a sneer, "than you shall die!"  
And extending his fingers toward Luke, he shot lighting blue energy bolts at the boy! Luke fell to the floor, writhing in agony. Sidious smiled in evident delight.  
Darth Vader heaved himself to his feet and moved to stand behind his master. He watched Luke on the floor, deep inside his decades stone heart, he felt a small pain, a twinge of regret, a bit of guilt...as Luke began to expire, these feelings grew stronger till they were like a fire burning in Vader's chest.  
"Father!" he heard Luke scream, "Please?"  
Darth Vader felt as if two sides of him were trying to take control of his whole person. As if the long dead Anakin Skywalker was trying to overcome the Darth Vader of present. Suddenly, something inside the man snapped! The Sith inside him had finally been expunged.  
"And now young Skywalker," the emperor was saying, "you shall die!"  
Anakin took two giant steps toward the Sith lord, and wrapping his strong arms around the emperor's torso, he lifted him from the ground and above his head. Sidious screamed in fear and anger as he was hefted from the ground. The most ferocious energy bolts that were meant for Luke rained down on Anakin's head. Summoning all his power, Anakin threw the emperor over the railing. Luke, who had struggled to his feet the moment the beams were retracted from him, watched as the emperor fell down the ventilation shaft, till he could no longer be seen. Shortly thereafter, as if to confirm his death, there was a great blue explosion! Luke felt the energy wave against his face. He immediately turned to his father, Anakin.  
Anakin leaned against the railing that over looked the shaft. His normally hoarse, raspy breath was labored as if difficult to inhale. He didn't move. Luke was by his side, turning him round into a sitting position.  
"Father?" he said hopefully.

Luke ran as fast as his burden allowed him. On his shoulder he was supporting a limp Anakin to his shuttle. Imperial storm troopers were running to their own shuttles in a panic to evacuate, for rebel X-wing fighters along with Han Solo's _Millennium Falcon, _had penetrated the Death Star's shield, entered through a ventilation shaft and had fired on the stations main energy reactor! The entire battle station was about to self-destruct! At the ramp of Darth Vader's shuttle, Anakin collapsed.  
"Luke?" he said feebly, "Help me take this mask off?"  
"But you'll die!" Luke argued.  
"Nothing can stop that now." His father replied.  
Luke could feel Anakin giving him a weak smile. He did as he was bid and slowly removed the headpiece from his father's face. At last! He saw it, Anakin Skywalker, no longer hidden behind a mask of death, no longer the robotic being of doom. Luke saw a kindness that had long ago been hidden away, just wanting to be seen. Though white as death and scarred beyond recognition, Luke saw a similarity in the man, it was goodness that was seen in all Jedi. Goodness of heart that had returned.  
"Now go, my son?" Anakin said with a rasp.  
"No!" Luke answered with resolve, "I have to save you!"  
"You already have Luke." Anakin sighed. "You were right about me," he whispered faintly, "tell her, your sister, that you were right." Anakin forced a smile for his son. His voice trailed away as his gray eyes closed and his head rolled back.  
"Father?" Luke said as a tear streamed down his cheek, "I won't leave you."  
Anakin Skywalker was dead.

_Anakin saw darkness around him, he hated the bleak nothingness that had consumed him for twenty years.  
"Go away!" he cried, "Go away!"  
Nothing changed.  
he was at the point of sobbing when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a faint light that steadily grew brighter.  
"Oh blessed light!" he thought to himself. He heard a voice.  
"Anakin?" it called, "Anakin, you must hear me!"  
"Obi-Wan! My master?" he cried.  
"Yes Anakin, but you must listen, you must do as I say before the little time I have runs out. Every Jedi is given the gift of immortality, you may ever commune with us and see your children again, but you must do as I say!"  
"Obi-Wan!" Anakin cried, he felt for the first time in twenty years tears beginning to fall down his face, "But why? Why me?"  
"You were the chose one Anakin," Obi-Wan answered, "you brought balance to the Force and destroyed the emperor. Through you the universe has been united in peace, but take heed, are you ready to do what I ask o you? Are you willing? Do you wish to see your family again?"  
Obi-Wan had said 'family'! Anakin hardly dared to hope!  
"Yes Obi-Wan," he answered humbly, "I will do what you ask." He heard a voice.  
"Anakin?" it called, "Anakin, you must hear me!"  
"Obi-Wan! My master?" he cried.  
"Yes Anakin, but you must listen, you must do as I say before the little time I have runs out. Every Jedi is given the gift of immortality, you may ever commune with us and see your children again, but you must do as I say!"  
"Obi-Wan!" Anakin cried, he felt for the first time in twenty years tears beginning to fall down his face, "But why? Why me?"  
"You were the chose one Anakin," Obi-Wan answered, "you brought balance to the Force and destroyed the emperor. Through you the universe has been united in peace, but take heed, are you ready to do what I ask o you? Are you willing? Do you wish to see your family again?"  
Obi-Wan had said 'family'! Anakin hardly dared to hope!  
"Yes Obi-Wan," he answered humbly, "I will do what you ask."  
"Then come!" urged the phantom Jedi, "Time slips by ever quickly!"  
"Obi-Wan?" Anakin said after a short silence.  
"Yes?"  
"Thank... thank you master!"  
Anakin felt, more than saw, Obi-Wans warm smile. The Jedi was no longer old and grey haired, but youthful and full of life. No lines graced his face, no age or tire, just the Obi-Wan he remembered. _

"_Master Yoda?" Anakin said with astonishment. He was standing in what looked like a meadow, cool and green with a wood to the right and Blue Mountains far off to the right. If you looked straight, there was a good long stretch of grass, but along the edge of the horizon one could see a silver line which was the sea. If you listened hard enough you could not only see it but hear it as well.  
"No longer a Padowan you are, my son." The Jedi master said with a smile, "A Jedi Knight and Master you have become... no longer old are we, but young and content."  
Anakin saw his reflection in a white mist that had suddenly began to float around him. His face! He was youthful and strong again! He could feel it! As if every vein in his body was born again and spurting freshness throughout his limbs. Anakin slowly shook his head. "I do not deserve it, Master." His countenance fell.  
"You were the Chosen one, Anakin." Yoda reassured.  
"The honor is yours to freely accept Anakin." A voice from behind him said.  
"M-master Windu?" he choked feebly as he turned to face the large black man.  
Windu smiled as he gripped Anakin's arm.  
"I'm sorry...so sorry!" Anakin sobbed.  
"Don't think anything more about it." Mace whispered just loud enough for Anakin to hear, "We are here now! In a place where there is no longer strife, guilt or pain, just peace and forever calmness." Anakin bowed, Windu bowed in return.  
"Well if it isn't the only humanoid pod-racer this side of Tatooine!"  
Anakin spun around to see a smiling Qui-Gon Jinn. The little boy inside Anakin made him race to Qui-Gon and wrap his arms around the man. The two embraced for a moment.  
"Come!" Obi-Wan tugged on Anakin's sleeve, "There is someone else you must see."  
Anakin blindly fallowed Obi-Wan, with Master Yoda, Master Windu and Master Qui-Gon brought up the rear._

_The small group stopped at what looked like a small cliff top. They were soon engulfed in a thick and strange fog, or mist you might call it. But this mist wasn't cold or damp; it was warm and reassuring. Wind whipped around the four, making the mist swirl skyward. A hole began to take shape in the midst of this fog, or more of a window...as to another world!  
"Look Anakin!" Obi-Wan instructed. As Anakin looked hard at the window between the worlds, he saw...a woman!  
"Mother?" he whispered in unbelief. He turned to face Obi-Wan. The man just smiled.  
"Why? I don't deserve any of it!" he fell to his knee's weeping.  
"None of us do Anakin," Obi-Wan's hand was on his shoulder and he was kneeling next to him. "It is only by Grace and Mercy any of us are here today... Go to her, she has been waiting a long time."  
With new resolve, Anakin Skywalker walked to the edge of the cliff top. Giving himself to the force, he walked off the ledge! He kept walking, the mist solidifying under his feet to form an elegant ivory bridge between the worlds.  
"Mother!" he called. Shmi Skywalker stood to meet her son. "Oh Ani!" she called back, her arms opened wide. Mother and son held each other in a long embrace.  
"Mom... I'm so sorry...I couldn't save you... I'm sorry..." he buried his face in her shoulder.  
"Ani...hush, it's not like that!" Shmi answered, "It was my time, and nothing could change that. I am glad I left you with such a wonderful woman."  
"But it wasn't enough... I wasn't what you wanted me to become, I failed you!"  
"Anakin?" Shmi held her sons face in her palms, "You are my son, no matter what you have done, where you have gone and what you have seen...nothing, you hear me? Nothing will ever change that!" she smiled as their tears mingled together. "Oh I love you Ani!"  
"Anakin!" a soft voice called in the distance. Snaking lifted his eyes to meet the new speaker. The soft voice came again, vibrating through every nerve and bone in his body. "Anakin?"  
He knew that voice! Could it be?  
"Pa-Padma?" his voice trembled and he felt his knees would give out.  
Her radiant face smiled and called to him.  
"Yes-yes! It's me!"  
Anakin let go of his mother and began to trip and tumble toward his wife. The sight of her made him stronger than he had ever felt, he soon found himself sprinting at full speed, closing the distance between them. He was at her side, in her arms, kissing her lips. He was one again, a whole person, the empty space in his heart was now complete._

And that is my idea of how it really should have ended.


End file.
